Arvind Kejriwal, the New Age Politician

Arvind Kejriwal

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The Man and his Mission

Arvind Kejriwal is the new Chief Minister of Delhi, screamed all News Paper headlines ,once his swearing in ceremony was over. Who is this man? What are his credentials? How is he different from the other politicians? How did his party formed just a year ago manage to get so many seats?

Arvind is the new messiah for the Indian masses.He took on the heavyweights in Indian politics,and created history, by winning a large chunk of seats in the recently concluded Delhi elections.He himself contested against the then Chief Minister and beat her by a big margin, thereby consolidating his position and proving to everybody that he and his party were here to stay.

What worked for the AAP was the stance taken by the party. It proclaimed that it was against the present political scene in the country. Arvind took on the whole polity and their kind of politics. The people of this country were fed up of the daily unfolding scams, the arrogance of their leaders and the overall disgust with politicians as a whole.This disgust was what gave birth to the AAP.

Arvind was born in 1968, in Haryana, got a Mechanical Engineering degree from IIT Kharagpur and joined the IRS. Meanwhile started an NGO Parivartan, to tackle citizens issues of Delhi. He also became an RTI activist and slowly started involving himself with citizen's issues.

Anna Hazare

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The Birth of a new party.

Anna Hazare started the ' India against Corruption' movement in Delhi in 2011. Anna sat on a Indefinite fast urging the government to set up an impartial ombudsman to probe case of corruption against the ruling class of people. This gathered enormous support all over the country and gained mass momentum. The middle class voter was enthused and came onto the street in large numbers.The India against Corruption movement brought him into the limelight. Anna Hazare was fasting, but Arvind, Kiran Bedi and others were the Backroom people keeping the Movement in the public Eye. They ensured that the common man, the man on the streets finally gets a platform to vent their anger against the establishment.

This was the the turning point. With the government dithering on the proposed law and the movement fizzling out, Arvind felt that if the system had to be changed, it had to be done from the inside.Arvind was often taunted by the other politicians to join politics and then get his agenda across.. Soon thereafter the AAM AADMI PARTY( the common man's party) was born. This was Arvind's political outfit. One formed to fight elections to the Delhi assembly. Immediately thereafter , he began uncovering wrong doings by both the major parties. Extensively covered by the media, Arvind was strengthening his party by doing these expose. More and more people felt that there was finally someone offering an alternative. The way Arvind was going about creating the Party was anathema to Anna and soon Arvind and Anna parted ways.

In The Saddle

Arvind and his party are now firmly in the saddle. Though not exactly comfortable, because they know that the Congress with whose support they are in power, is not a trustworthy partner. But as he himself had said many a time, he will try to fulfill as many promise he made in the run up to the elections, as he can. Even he is aware that he sits on a rocking chair and can be knocked down any time.

In fact one of the first things he did was to provide a certain amount of water free to the citizens of Delhi. The other issue of power was also taken up and again a sop provided to the people who consume minimum power in the city. So far within a week of assuming office, he has fulfilled two of the promises he made.

The road ahead is full of thorns, with both the other major parties waiting to pull the rug under his feet. Any small mistake and he is gone.

The Agenda

Arvind along with some of his trusted friends Yogendra Yadav, Prashant Bhushan and others formed the core group of this party.

The AAP not only enthused the middle class, but all sections of society. Arvind made corruption the main plank but other issues like water supply, power,healthcare,sanitation were also part of his propaganda. It did help that through these issues, he had touched the hearts of the people. He not only caught the attention of the educated youth, he also reached to the other common men like the Autoriksha drivers, slum dwellers, people living in unauthorized settlements and all others who he felt were neglected by the present day politicians.He gave a voice to the huge population who felt that they did not exist, by the other politicians.

Again another symbolic feature was him getting a Broom allotted as his election symbol. The broom will sweep away the rubbish accumulated by all these years was his war cry.

His party had no funds to run the campaign. But his ideas enthused so many Indians living in India and abroad, that money started pouring in. Every right thinking Indian was seeing a future for India in Arvind Kejriwal. The funding was so frenetic that the party had to stop collections as a predetermined amount was reached. Perhaps for the the first time in Indian politics, a political party had said no to money.

The strategy was cleverly devised to get as many people to endorse the party. Novel methods of campaigning like sweeping the streets clean were adopted. Candidates put up by the party were selected carefully. The usual Religion, Caste & Money power was given the go by.Even during polling they did not indulge in the distribution of liquor and money to individuals, route.

Kejriwal campaigning in Delhi

The Pitfalls

Already we are seeing the ineptitude of the newcomers. It is still early days and hopefully will avoid treading the same path as the existing Political Parties.

Arvind had to abandon plans of shifting into a palatial house, only after the media made a big issue of it. Arrogance is slowly creeeping into the utterances of Kumar Vishvas, another AAP leader. Prashant Bhushan another senior AAP man says something untenable about his pet peeve, Kashmir. It seems to be a conglomeration of different people speaking in different voices. There should be cohesiveness and for that these leaders have to curb the intention of speaking on controversial topics.

Conclusion

Arvind knows that he has given hope to millions of people of the country. The number of people joining the AAP all over the country is something unimaginable. People from all walks of life are joining in. Everybody is hoping to see and be the change, the country needs and Arvind Kejriwal is their hope.

He cannot have his partymen making wild and arrogant statements, for which, the party has to clarify later.

Each and every move he makes will be closely monitored and analysed. He has to tread carefully.He has raised a billion hopes. It is time to deliver.

CM Kejriwal's Speech in the Delhi Assembly( in Hindi)

Aam Aadmi Party

Do you think that the Aam Aadmi Party will make a difference in Indian Politics